One of the most relevant and requested pieces of information regarding a divorce case is the costs associated with proceeding with your case. For many people who have never been involved in divorce before the costs associated with the case may be a complete mystery. Or, the best source of information this person may have had would be friends and family. Even then, these friends and family may have jaded or otherwise biased views towards divorce that may lead them to give information that is not wholly accurate. What can you do in a situation like that where you are trying to learn realistic costs associated with a divorce in Texas?
During the information gathering phase of a case, I think one of the best things you can do is go to a direct source who has experience in handling divorces on behalf of a wide array of people period from there, you can begin to learn more about the process and what your specific divorce may look like regarding your life, circumstances and case goals. Do not rely upon information based on what other people tell you about their divorce. Just like snowflakes, each of us is individual and unique in our way. to assume that your divorce will cost the same as any other person’s would be a huge mistake.
The decision of whether to hire anattorney for your divorce will probably be the most consequential one that you face throughout the entirety of your case. This is not an exaggeration. While you’ll make many important decisions during your divorce all those decisions will be impacted by the kind of advice that you received or whether you received any at all. Otherwise, the sort, of course, your divorce takes, the length of the case and its overall outcome for you and your family will depend a lot on the decisions you make. They will either be relying upon your own experience to make decisions, or you will hire someone to help inform you throughout the process.
Before we talk about the ultimate cost of hiring an attorney for your divorce, we should spend some time discussing the types of representation arrangements that you can create with an attorney. Without a doubt, just like your case is unique the kind of representation that you seek should be unique as well. Please bear in mind that many of the challenges that you face in your divorce case require advice and perspective that not just any attorney might have. This is where I would like to begin our discussion of representation in a divorce case.
When hiring an attorney for your divorce, experience matters
Whatever your day job is to think about how you performed at the job on your first day. There is probably a lot you didn’t know and quite a bit that you struggled at. This is not uncommon. I can’t think of very many people at all who started a new job on day one and have the job mastered by the end of the day. Rather, there are probably several aspects of the job that you wish you could have been better at and portions of the job where there was a lot of on-the-fly learning associated with the work that you performed. Over time, however, you learned the different aspects of the job and were able to perform better in those roles you were asked to fill.
The difference between you on your first day working and you on your 200-day work was experienced. It isn’t as if your brain grew to twice the size it was on day one or that you were able to find a thinking cap that causes your brain to think much more clearly than it was able on your first day. Rather, you simply gained experience and knowledge because of that experience. The job came easier to you, and you had some repetition and performed the most basic tasks. Additionally, you were more confident in your abilities and trusted yourself much more as time progressed.
The same could be said of an attorney that you hired to represent you in your divorce case. Experience matters in your line of work just as much as to does in the world of the law. Specifically, you will be best served by hiring a lawyer who has experience in the world of Texas family law. While there is no requirement that you hire a family law attorney to represent you in your divorce or even that you hire a lawyer at all, working with an attorney who has the experience and family law can assist in many ways. Most notably, the attorney can help you avoid mistakes that can cost you time and money. Imagine working with a lawyer who has never map discovery for filing deadlines in a case before. That would be a huge disadvantage to you and could potentially cost you a great deal of time not to mention, that achieving the goals of your divorce becomes much more difficult with an experienced lawyer.
Despite how important experience is to handling a divorce, many attorneys who lack family law experience will try to convince you that they are competent to take your case. General practice attorneys and even lawyers who focus on other areas of the law may be happy to take your case if you present it to them. There are several drawbacks to hiring a lawyer who does not practice primarily in family law. We have already discussed a number of those reasons here in today’s blog post. However, the simple reality is that you need to be aware that so much of a divorce relies upon an attorney facilitating discussion between the two parties. If your lawyer cannot help you in creating solutions to your specific problems, then you are at a disadvantage. There is no substitute for experience in this regard.
The attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan are the sort of experienced attorneys that you need to be able to execute a plan and achieve your goals. Our office focuses almost entirely on family law cases such as divorce. Our combined decades of experience practicing law in this office, wow us to have a reservoir of knowledge that we can apply to your case to help you and your family. At the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, you do not have to wonder if we have worked with clients like you or if we have seen problems you are encountering. Rather, you can rest easy with the Peace of Mind that comes from hiring one of the most experienced law offices in Houston that focuses on family law.
In addition, I welcome you to look at our website and refer to the number of attorneys that we have on staff here at our office. With this experience see the ability to attract some of the best family attorneys in our area. No matter if you end up hiring a senior or junior associate attorney with our office you will have the benefit of all our collective experience achieving results for our clients. Our attorneys regularly consult with each other about cases and problems that they have run into the period from there, we can create solutions based on the collective knowledge possessed by our lawyers.
To schedule a free-of-charge consultation with our office, please give us a call. Our licensed family law attorneys offer free of charge consultation six days a week in person at one of our Houston area locations, over the phone, and via video. These consultations are a great way for you to learn more about Texas divorce law as well as about how your family circumstances may be impacted by the filing of a divorce case.
To what extent do you want a lawyer to represent you in your divorce?
Another advantage of hiring one of the attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan is that you can take advantage of the flexible representation arrangements that we can offer. We understand that no two divorces are the same and as a result the representation we offer to you as a client will not be the same as it is to another person. Certainly, we can represent you in a traditional attorney-client relationship. However, there are atypical or untraditional roles regarding representation that we can pursue with you during your discussion period
These are known as limited scope arrangements. All this means is that the scope of the attorney-client relationship will be somewhat different than what many people choose to engage in. Let’s walk through some examples of limited-scope arrangements to better illustrate what we are discussing and what could be made available to you if you choose to work with our attorneys and staff.
The first type of limited scope arrangement that I have in mind when discussing potential attorney-client relationships would be a situation where our attorneys review the paperwork before you sign it. Most importantly, this may involve our office reviewing drafted temporary orders from your spouse’s lawyer. Many times, an opposing attorney will either willfully or negligently leave items out of a draft copy of orders or insert language that should not be in there. If you are not represented by an attorney in your divorce case this may be overlooked by you and could be quite damaging. The last thing you want to do, for example, is attending mediation only to find that an attorney misstates the mediation agreement, and you sign your name to an order that does not reflect what you settled on in that mediation session.
Hiring our office on a limited scope arrangement can help you to avoid situations like this. Our office and you could agree that one of our attorneys would meet with you for a certain period to review the draft language contained in temporary orders or a final decree of divorce before your signing. The attorney could educate you on what to look for as well as to verify that what was included in a mediated settlement agreement shows up in your orders. You could sign up with our office to not only meet with an attorney but to be able to receive an email in correspondence back and forth but that is your wish. However, receiving any advice from an attorney about the important parts of your case is a good situation for you.
At the end of the day, what you and your spouse are trying to negotiate and fight for are our court orders that are reflective of a fair distribution of your marital property as well as child custody and conservatorships orders that are in the best interest of your children. If you all do not have court orders that reflect your wishes, then your entire case has been a waste of time. With that said, you should never trust an opposing attorney when it comes to their draft of any orders for your case be they temporary or final. Even the best-intentioned of attorneys can make mistakes. It is unlikely that those mistakes end up favoring you versus their client. Rather, by hiring one of our lawyers on a limited scope arrangement to review the paperwork with you can best ensure that no mistakes are made in this crucial phase of your case.
if this type of arrangement appeals to you, I would recommend that you contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan today. We can discuss this or any other type of limited scope arrangement that you had in mind. As long as we think that the arrangement is ethical and stands to benefit you as a client, we would be receptive to listening to any thoughts you had period additionally, once we learn more about your particular circumstances we could offer our thoughts on what kind of limited scope arrangement may make sense for you and your family. however, the only way you can receive tailor-made advice such as this is to reach out to one of our lawyers today by phone or on our website.
What are the costs of hiring a junior attorney from the Law Office of Bryan Fagan for your divorce?
Not only is this one of the most reasonable questions to ask throughout your divorce case, but it is also one of the most difficult to answer. The reason is that not only will the circumstances of your divorce play a major role in this determination but the negotiating styles and attitudes of you and your spouse will also play a role. Here is how our attorney’s bill and charge clients for representation in Texas divorce cases.
Our office will need to be paid a retainer to represent you in your divorce. This retainer is similar to a down payment for another service or product. The retainer, which is usually in the couple thousand of dollars range, literally retains our services for you throughout the life of your case. Once you hire our office with a retainer, we will begin to file the necessary paperwork in your divorce based on whether you are the respondent or petitioning party. Next, your attorney will reach out to you to introduce him or herself and talk to you about goals we would like to accomplish for your case. An attorney will also give you an overview of your case and let you know what to expect shortly.
From there, the individual circumstances of your case will play a major role in determining the costs. For example, if you and your spouse have already worked through many of the outstanding issues in your case then your case may be relatively short and therefore inexpensive. However, the longer your case takes to complete the more likely it is to become more expensive. There is little substitute for two parties who are willing to work together to set aside their differences and work towards common resolutions to problems.
Family law attorneys such as those with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan bill by the hour. A junior attorney has a lower hourly rate to build a more senior attorney. You can ask our office to review a sample contract to learn about our current hourly rates for both junior and senior attorneys. Even if you hire one of our junior attorneys to represent junior divorce you would still receive perspective from senior attorneys including Mr. Fagan himself. we pride ourselves on being able to lean on the entirety of our office when it comes to helping our clients. One in the more about the services that our office can provide you with please contact us today.
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Bryan Fagan, a native of Atascocita, Texas, is a dedicated family law attorney inspired by John Grisham’s “The Pelican Brief.” He is the first lawyer in his family, which includes two adopted brothers. Bryan’s commitment to family is personal and professional; he cared for his grandmother with Alzheimer’s while completing his degree and attended the South Texas College of Law at night.
Married with three children, Bryan’s personal experiences enrich his understanding of family dynamics, which is central to his legal practice. He specializes in family law, offering innovative and efficient legal services. A certified member of the College of the State Bar of Texas, Bryan is part of an elite group of legal professionals committed to ongoing education and high-level expertise.
His legal practice covers divorce, custody disputes, property disputes, adoption, paternity, and mediation. Bryan is also experienced in drafting marital property agreements. He leads a team dedicated to complex family law cases and protecting families from false CPS allegations.
Based in Houston, Bryan is active in the Houston Family Law Sector of the Houston Bar Association and various family law groups in Texas. His deep understanding of family values and his professional dedication make him a compassionate advocate for families navigating Texas family law.
